Service providers provide telecommunications services to service users whose terminals are connected to the service providers via a communication network. Normally, a use charge and a transmission charge are required in order to use a telecom service and to transmit service data, as is necessary for this purpose. To regulate the payment cycles between the service provider and the service user, the service providers which regulate the payment process, namely payment service providers (PSP), access a credit account (prepaid account) belonging to the service user and debit the use and transmission charges incurred for use of the service. Alternatively, the PSP can issue an invoice for the use charges and transmission charges which have been incurred, in a postpaid mode.
Services provided for which a charge is to be levied can be, by way of example, the calling of WAP pages, the downloading of data from the Internet and/or payment (micropayment) using the mobile terminal.
In mobile radio networks, a home location register (HLR) stores, for each subscriber, data which provide, inter alia, information about which network services this subscriber uses. Some of these services stipulate the circumstances under which the services of the intelligent network (IN) are to be started with the subscriber for support by the CAMEL protocols (CAMEL=Customer Applications for Mobile Enhanced Logic).
An intelligent network is formed by extending an existing telephone network. New, “intelligent” network nodes and special network components and also additional functions for extending existing exchanges are introduced into the network. The architecture of the intelligent network is obtained essentially from the operation of a service switching point (SSP), which is introduced as an extension of existing digital local or trunk exchanges, and of service control points (SCP) used as “intelligent” network nodes for setting up connections within the context of IN services.
The CAMEL concept was developed in connection with IN/GSM integration. CAMEL is a platform created for this purpose by the European Telecommunication Standardization Institute (ETSI) which introduces the fundamental concept of intelligent networks (IN) in the GSM mobile radio system. CAMEL should allow the GSM subscribers to use the same services as in the home mobile radio network (Home Public Land Mobile Network, HPLMN) even when they are roaming throughout the world.
The portion of the services which stipulates how and what services of the intelligent network are used by the subscriber is called CAMEL Subscription Indication (CSI) and exists in various forms, such as O-CSI, D-CSI, T-CSI, among others. The services are, by way of example, preferential tariffs, flexible allocation of call charges, conference calls, set up of virtual private networks (VPN) and closed user groups, call-free call numbers (0800) and personal call numbers.
The CSI data also store various further information giving more detailed information about handling the associated IN services. An example which may be mentioned in this context is the charging method, i.e. whether a subscriber's charges are settled using a prepaid method or a postpaid method. If the accounts from which the charges for the services used are to be debited are managed using IN solutions, addressing problems may arise, particularly if the accounts are distributed over a plurality of SCPs.